The EGRPS Legislative Committee urges you to read the Legislative Alert sent by Ron Koehler from the Kent County Education Advocacy Group Grassroots. His Alert is asking us to contact Governor Granholm and Senator Jansen and tell him that the money cut from the School Aid Fund is not a "surplus" and should not be sent to the General Fund to fund everything in state government but education. Hands off education funds! Please find contact information next to this post.
Lucy Lafleur
lucylafleur@sbcglobal.net
From: Grassroots
Stop the transfer of School Aid Funds to the General Fund! At the urging of Governor Granholm, the House last week transferred School Aid Fund "surplus" to the general fund. These are not surplus dollars, but instead are funds that were cut from your local schools.
Senators are expected to vote next week on the transfer. We need to contact our senators and let them know this is unacceptable.
Background: Schools received a cut of $165 per student in this fiscal year. Late in the spring, unexpectedly high sales tax revenues boosted the balance in the School Aid Fund. Instead of returning those dollars to our schools and students, Gov. Granholm and the House said these revenues represented a "surplus" and plan to use those dollars to balance the state budget.
Transferring these dollars to the general fund defies the will of the people who passed Proposal A to stabilize school funding and represents a precedent that may be difficult to reverse in the future.
Your message should be simple: Tell the Governor and Sens. Jansen, Hardiman and Jelinek to stop the raid on the School Aid Fund. Our children deserve better.
Contact Information For more information, contact Ron Koehler at rkoehler001@comcast.net
